Category Archives: TV News Wrap

“Jeremy Clarkson and James May take a trip to the seaside in electric cars, the Nissan Leaf and the Peugeot iOn. Jeremy Clarkson also drives the new F1 style Lotus and Richard Hammond spends the day with a rally team, the members are all ex-military amputees.”

The special guest will be Simon Cowell, quite astoundingly making his third appearance on the popular motoring show (his first in series 3, and his next in series 10).

Mick Malthouse appeared on the AFL Footy Show on Thursday night, and it really was a masterclass in terms of hard-hitting interviews.

Sam Newman- who conducted most of the interview- prodded Mick on his role at Collingwood next year.

Sam, impressively, honed in on one point and one point in particular- if he trusts Eddie to provide him with the right role next year (as Director of Coaching), why won’t he say “categorically” that he will be at Collingwood under Nathan Buckley.

Malthouse’s bemused silence after some of his questions really said it all. He also admitted that there is a chance he won’t be at Collingwood next year.

If we have learnt anything from Sam’s questioning, it’s that all this is still very much up in the air, or as Sam says, the “door” is still “wide open”.

But, even though there is still raging speculation, there were some things that Mick could confidently say.

He got Mick to say categorically “If the job’s not right”, he won’t be there.

James Brayshaw also tipped in with a very tough question indeed: If he was Buckley, “Would (he) want to be in that situation (with Mick Malthouse looking over everything he does)?”

This was also met with silence and more obfuscation.

Mick also admitted that he “can’t turn the tap off” (referring to an analogy about the passion for coaching being like a tap that you can’t turn on or off), signifying that he may not be able to just stop coaching, even though his wife may want him to for the moment.

But the most brilliant quotes actually came from Sam, who summed up the situation perfectly.

“His players want him to stay on as coach (and) Nanette [his wife] is ticked-off beyond belief (that he might be coaching again).”

… Also met with silence.

Above all, despite all the criticism The Footy Show draws, it still serves as a guide to how to ask the hard questions of someone, not to mention Sam’s disarmingly laconic style of interview being a remarkably successful one after all these years.

The show also featured a moving tribute to Allan “Yabby” Jeans, featuring Dermott Brereton telling of the last chat he ever had to him.

Yes, it can be stupid, but moments like these show while it’s still the leader among the footy show pack.

The show was advertised as being from the makers behind “The Gruen Transfer” and “Enough Rope”. If it was from any other producer, the premiere would almost be enough to turn everyone off- especially judging from the negative Twitter reception.

Gruen fans rejoice, the revolutionary show about advertising is back, and here’s the airdate;

ABC1, Wednesday, August 3, 9pm

And as usual, in its off-season, there has been a veritable treasure trove of advertising-goodness to mine. The press release cites “crazy mining ads, Big Tobacco campaigns, gambling messages invading every sport program on TV, the social media monster of Vodafail, NAB pretending it has no friends…” as all topics to be dismantled over its run.

And in other news, there’s also another Gruen show to add to the Gruen-stable, and it’s called Gruen Planet (following on from the success of last year’s Gruen Nation).

Here’s the official description:

A “show that will look at the news of the week through the prism of spin, branding and image control. We can’t tell you much about it yet, because … well, because it’s still a secret. Mostly. ”

It sounds, in essence, pretty similar to Gruen Nation, except more sbout news in general. The part they can’t tell us is likely to do with the assembly of personalities on the panel- will there be two regular guests like there is on The Gruen Transfer or a set panel of guests like Gruen Nation. Will Annabel Crabb be back?

Either way, it sounds exciting, and will be another huge hit for the ABC.

And just to reassure you that the Gruen Transfer will be back in all its glory, here’s what else the press-release has to say about it, including a new segment:

Old favourite segments including The Pitch – where two agencies compete to sell the unsellable – will return, along with another End-Of-Show Quest. Last year we voted for The Worst Ad Of All Time. This year, we’re pushing that idea further, hoping to identify and celebrate … (drum roll) … The Worst Product Of All Time!”

This will be the Gruen Transfer’s fourth season produced by Zapruder’s Other Films and ABC-TV.

In what is sure to be one of the biggest fights of Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s short period in the top job, she will appear on Q and A to try to sell her party’s Carbon Tax to the people.

This is already the second time this year she has appeared on the popular ABC program- the first being on March 14. She also appeared last year as a part of her election campaign.

But this will arguably be the most compelling of all- her popularity is at an all-time low, and she is copping a hammering in the media.

However, Gillard has always performed well on Q and A, in terms of the way she comes across, at least (leaving aside policies for a minute) and her last two appearances have at least managed to make her seem more human.

Her only downfall is her propensity to nervously giggle at difficult questions- a disarming technique which at first seems charming, but soon becomes irritating and all-too contrived.

In fairness to her, however, she doesn’t tend to shirk questions, and always gives an answer, however weak you may perceive it to be.

Watch for these questions, though, and if she decides to (or has been instructed to) deal with them differently;

-What effect will pricing carbon in Australia have when the world’s biggest emitters are not adopting a similar strategy.

Regardless, it will be a ratings bonanza for the ABC once again.

The press release says:

“The ABC is pleased to announce that Prime Minister Julia Gillard will join Tony Jones in a special episode of Q&A, live to air on Monday, 11 July at 9.35pm on ABC1, the day after announcing her carbon tax pricing policy.

Can she deliver the most significant economic reform for a generation? What are the details and how will they affect you?”

In what must be one of the most low-key, yet heated rivalries in the AFL, Sam Newman has thrown another barb at Before the Game panelist Samantha Lane.

Channel Ten was successfully sued this week for $85,000 after Nicole Cornes accused Mick Molloy of damaging her character after he implied that she slept with an AFL player.

Sam Newman, obviously still holding a grudge after she wrote a critical piece slamming the Footy Show for their treatment of women, blasted Samantha Lane tonight for not writing a similarly condemnatory piece about her colleague Mick Molloy (she sits next to him on the Ten program).

Tonight, Sam Newman began by calling Samantha “Sally Lane” and bringing up Mick’s trial verdict, and musing “I though she would probably come out with a piece (condemning Molloy)”.

But then he jokingly mentioned that it “…takes a couple of weeks for her to get outraged”.

He brought up again the fact that she “pasted” them over their actions, finally accusing her of “Selective outrage”, or double standards, given “she works on the same show (as Molloy)”.

He finished by saying “Maybe, Sally, you could actually write something about the show you’re on”.

Its hard to disagree that Samantha could be accused of only criticising opponents, and reserving public judgement on issues that may affect her employment, it’s difficult to start throwing around phrases such as “conflict of interest”.

Why? Because you’d be hard-pressed to find a media identity in the AFL these days who didn’t have some conflict of interest of some sort.

Eddie McGuire, to name but one, is the most obvious example, due to his status as President of the Collingwood Football Club, as well as the host of a Monday to Friday breakfast radio show, where he puts forth opinions, as well as breaks news about other clubs.

However, a more pertinent example would be none other than James Brayshaw. He is the President of the North Melbourne Football Club, but also has a drive-time radio show, calls the football on weekends and also hosts TWO football TV shows.

And though Sam Newman criticized Samantha for “selective” outrage, he could just the same point the same finger at the bloke next to him.

Only a couple of months ago, Sam Newman himself was the subject of a warning from ACMA over some “racist” comments he made about a Malaysian man.

In case you needed reminding, Sam Newman blatantly called the man a “monkey” and said he was “not long out of the forest”.

However, on the night, neither James Brayshaw or Garry Lyon made any attempt to castigate him (on air), let alone silence him- something, many may argue was in their best interests.

However, like Samantha Lane, Brayshaw is very willing to (rightfully) condemn others for similar displays of racism (he criticized a man who racially abused AFL player Majak Daw), only in Brayshaw’s case, he used the forum of his radio show, rather than a regular newspaper column.

Brayshaw would hardly have been expected to criticise Sam Newman in a similar way, so why should Sam be expected? It’s just really double standards on top of double standards- they’re everywhere, and at the end of the day, both parties come off looking a little silly.

While I don’t expect them to stop anytime soon, this fiery exchange could likely be brought to an abrupt end, with Samantha Lane’s Before the Game in great doubt for next year- so maybe The Footy Show will get the unlikely last laugh.

Australian Top Gear fans can rest easy- the show’s seventeenth season, which began just over two weeks ago in the UK, will finally have an airdate in Australia.

Today Nine have begun airing their “The best is still to come” promos, which feature a montage of the second half of the year’s shows, including Underbelly: Razor, Hamish and Andy’s Gap Year, Top Design and Bear Gryll’s Worst Case Scenario.

There is also a mention of new Top Gear, though, which tells us it isn’t far away.

It won’t be seen for the next two weeks but my tip is TUESDAY JULY 19 at 8:30, given Sea Patrol has its final ever episode airing the week before at July 12, it will leave a hole in the schedule.

The other possibility is Thursday July 21, given its human body series has its finale the previous week, however Nine seems set on airing docos in that slot.

Season Seventeen episode one features a tribute to the E-type Jag, among other things. It is one of six episodes for the season.